


A Magical Dream

by IShipMyFriendsSometimes



Category: Room of Swords
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Bakery and Coffee Shop, F/F, Healer Nephthys, M/M, Magic, Monsters, Oops, Pegasus Sylvia, Princess Ragan, Sniper Archer Kodya, This started as a coffee shop au??, Wizard Gyrus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2020-07-20 15:11:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19994281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IShipMyFriendsSometimes/pseuds/IShipMyFriendsSometimes
Summary: When Gyrus's kingdom has fallen to ruin, his family scattered, a demon takes over his kingdom and his people. It was over. He was stuck in a tower for the rest of his miserable life. Then, Gyrus meets a scary red headed knight riding on a non-threatening pink Pegasus.ORThe one where Gyrus passes out more or less and has a dream about being in another world.





	1. A Tower, A Sword, and A Pegasus

Gyrus is finishing up his closing shift at his job, a coffee place by the name of Fresh Grounds. Honestly, it sounded like the name of some vampire romance novel, but Gyrus wasn't going to point anything out. Especially not to his manager, Ragan. She was scary.

She'd probably take it to his boss, Don, and he really didn't need another misunderstanding. The misunderstanding consisted of all his co-workers that were on shift with him at the same time quitting, and getting new jobs at a rival coffee place. This caused the other employees to think he was at fault. It definitely didn't help that a week later their coffee machine that he had affectionately named 'Scout' had been sabotaged.

There was a wrench in the coffee pot, causing the coffee to gain a metallic taste.

A third thing that added to his already growing group of people that hated him, was that his co-worker Kodya had fallen into the coffee machine and damaged the skin around his eye when Gyrus was there. Most people seemed to think Gyrus pushed him, but Gyrus knows someone else is the problem.

Gyrus went from being the employee of the month, to being on probation and carefully watched by everyone on and off staff. Some customers even watch him.

Kodya dislikes him after the coffee machine incident, which sucks for Gyrus since they were kind of flirting before the fact. He needs to prove his innocence, but he doubts he'll get the opportunity anytime soon. He doubts his hip-cutout Halloween costume was any help to his case.

Gyrus puts his elbow on the black countertop and leans into his hand. His life was frustrating right now, with him almost getting fired after the Kodya incident.

Tonight was slow, and he was going to close up in an hour anyways. Then he could go to his dorm and get some much needed rest for a fresh day of college classes. Gyrus is an engineering major, interested in aeronautical engineering and space travel as well as physics and math. For those things you have to be well-rested in order to avoid the potential mistakes. He hated making mistakes in his coursework.

Besides, if he isn't well-rested before lectures, even if he was interested he would probably fall asleep. He _needs_ his full eight hours of sleep.

What was he going to eat for dinner?

Well, he could just grab something out of the case. It was just already made food that he would throw out when he closed the place up. That's what he mostly ate for dinner anyways. It didn't matter if it was cold, or he ate it by himself, because in the end, food was food. His body requires sustenance.

The door to the backroom creaks and Gyrus glances back at the door. A long haired with a pinkish raised scar by his eye exits.

“Kodya? I thought you left?” Gyrus asks.

“Yeah, well, _the_ _lightning_ _queen_ made me do inventory.” Kodya replies.

The lightning queen was another nickname for Ragan, ever since she dressed up as Thor for Halloween. She acted a bit entitled, and her hair seemed to stick up like lightning, so it was only fair.

Gyrus opens his mouth to reply, when the glass windows are shattered.

“Get down!” He shouts to Kodya and grabs the back of his shirt, pulling him down underneath the counter. Kodya looks surprised and indignant, but he stays silent.

Voices begin to talk.

“No employees, eh?” A gruff voice asks.

“Doesn't seem like it,” a higher masculine voice replies.

Gyrus stays silent and looks pointedly at Kodya before changing his attention back to the conversation.

“We'll check to see if they're hiding, but we can ultimately hide in the store room. I know for a fact there are no cameras in this establishment. The employee at Shadow of a Doubt coffee with the onion hat said so. And they used to work here,” a feminine voice answered.

Gyrus exchanges looks of concern with Kodya, and he gestures to Kodya a plan to tackle them. Kodya nods, and makes an L with his left hand. Gyrus nods.

That means Kodya will knock out the guy on the left while Gyrus will go for the guy on the right. They could come up with a plan to get the last person after they had taken out those two.

“Sweet, so we can hide the cash in here and come back for it later.”

“That was the plan, anyways.”

Kodya nods at Gyrus, and the engineering major stands up. He doesn't know if the group possesses any weapons, but he'll call 911 _after_ they've dealt with these idiots.

Kodya and Gyrus stand on opposite exits from the counter, and Gyrus mouths a countdown.

_Three._

“This whole area seems empty.” the gruff voice says.

_Two._

“Maybe they're behind the counter?” the other voice asks.

_One._

Gyrus and Kodya spring into action, Gyrus pushing down the man on the right. The element of surprise helps them, and they manage to catch the men off guard. The man Gyrus tackles hits the floor pretty hard and is out immediately.

Gyrus looks up from the man on the floor to see a woman with a wicked smirk standing over him. She is holding a gun with two hands, and is aiming it not towards Gyrus, but towards Kodya who seems to be struggling with the man.

“You may have knocked out Chris, but your friend over there struggling with Johnny isn't going to win. I'm going to make sure of that.”

Kodya is focused on his fight, Gyrus realizes. He has no time to react to the bullet if she shoots. He would be dead in seconds.

“Are you really?” Gyrus asks, to stall while he moved his legs up under him. Her eyes were trained on Johnny and Kodya, so she didn't seem to notice.

She doesn't fall for his stalling trick and time seems to go in slow motion as she pulls the trigger. Gyrus jumps in the way of the bullet, an intense pain in his hip as he falls to the floor.

“Gyrus!” Kodya calls out, but is quickly dragged back into the fight. Gyrus felt as if his hip were burning. He was sure he'd be in less pain if it were actually burning.

The world was getting darker and blurrier.

“I won't miss this time, brat,” The woman spits, and aims her gun again.

Gyrus, despite feeling light-headed, knows he has to take this one too. He cannot let Kodya get hit.

The woman puts her finger on the trigger, and Gyrus tenses, ready to leap up and ignore the burning sensation in his hip.

The woman fires, and Gyrus pushes himself up to catch it with his shoulder.

The blurry world becomes grey, and keeps darkening. The sounds of the fight dull out, and Gyrus feels sleepy. He should just…

“ _Stay awake for me_!”

Rest.

“ _You can't close your eyes!”_

Gyrus closes his eyes.

* * *

In the land of the Table Of Swords, lay a prince in a tower of stone. The tower was tall enough that birds would fly in on occasion, rain and snow flew in on the regular. The top floor of this tower was where the prince lay among his dreams and in a slumber.

  
 _Warm._ Gyrus thinks, and snuggles more into the fuzzy thing. It's soft like his bed, but yet hard like the floor. Somehow it's comfortable despite the hardness and flatness of the surface.

Light is shining on his face and it he slowly opens his eyes to find himself in a drab stone room. How did he get here?

He remembers nothing from before, just that he was a prince.

Gyrus takes a moment to take in the room. The room is barren of, well, anything. A window lies on the wall across from where he is laying on the floor, snowflakes drifting inside from the crisp winter air. A chilly wind blows through the window, and he grasps for his source of warmth only for his fingers to find purchase on something soft and distinctly not cloak-like.

Huh?

Gyrus sits up and sees a black fuzzy blanket covering his body. Someone cared enough to at least give him a blanket when they locked him up. But why is he locked up?

The last thing he remembers is training checking out the castle library. A normal day as far as he knew. Then…

Nothing.

There was no passing out, no eating or drinking anything, there was just _nothing_. An empty spot in his memory, which bothered him more than he cared to admit.

Something was going on. He had to get to the bottom of this.

Speaking of the "bottom of this" he was sure that he was in a tower, for no good warden leaves an open window for the prison we to leave out of. Gyrus contemplates taking off the blanket and decides against it, the winter chill is harsh.

Assuming he was in a tower, how does he get out?

The only thing in the room with him was the blanket, and that was not long enough to climb down anything.  
  
"I hast come to rescue ye," A voice state and Gyrus looks around frantically.

“Hello?” He waits. “Oh god. I'm hearing things. I'm going crazy.” He panics.

“Then it wouldst be a waste if I rescued ye,” The voice answered, sounding closer. Gyrus looked toward the window and saw a woman with bright red hair and sharp eyeliner, dressed in heavy looking armour.

“Who are you?” He asks, dumbly. She sighs.

“I am Tori, Knight of the Queen. I am on a quest for her cure,” She states proudly.

“Which queen?” Gyrus frowns.

“ _The Queen_.” Tori answers.

“Does she have a first name?” He inquires.

“I– She– Do not disrespect the Queen!” Tori stumbles on her words. Why would she not know her Queen's name is she was so dedicated? That was rather strange, to be honest.

“Alright, okay.” Gyrus holds his hands up in surrender, not wanting to cause discourse. “So, you're rescuing me?”  
  
“Of course. The knights code is that we protect the innocent and promote glory and justice. Come along, er…”

“Gyrus,” He supplies, pushing off the blanket and wrapping it around his neck like a cloak. He had a feeling this blanket had an enchantment, for he wasn't cold at all despite the snowflakes.

“Nice to meet ye, Gyrus,” She nods. “Alright, I am going to need ye to come with me, mount Sylvia as ye list.” Tori offers.

“Sylvia?” Gyrus asks as he stands up and walks towards the window.

“My pegasus.”

“Ah,” Gyrus replies, frankly confused but too scared to mention it. “So do you want me to exit out the window, or…?”

Tori sighs and pulls him out the window.

Gyrus screams and shuts his eyes. He feels the wind rushing in his face. He also realizes he's on something solid. He can imagine Tori is rolling her eyes at him right now.

Gyrus opens one eye and sees that he's sitting on a bright pink pegasus. Pink? What a strange color for any kind of horse.

Although, pegasi were most likely different, they had wings and could carry people after all. Horses of the sky, if you will. Interesting. As far as he knew, this was the first and only time he has been on a Pegasus.

“So,” Gyrus starts. “Where are we going, on this fun filled quest?”

“Thou art not on this quest. I am dropping ye off whence ye came.”

“I used to live in the kingdom of Boîte Noire,” Gyrus offers. Tori glares at the mention of his kingdom. Did he say something wrong?

“Nay,” Tori vetoes. “I will not let ye go to the realm of a vile daemon.”

“Demon?” Gyrus asks, puzzled at her reaction. The grass was green and the kingdom was peaceful. What was she talking about?

“Ye may not know since ye were in the tower, but the kingdom of Boîte Noire hast been taken over by a man mad with power. The King used to be peaceful, and one day he snapped. He hast pillaged and slaughtered the men, women and children,” Tori explains.

“Fires run on a constant cycle, screams of anguish ring out throughout the land nearby, and _no one_ in the last four years hast escaped or entered the kingdom,” Her green eyes darken with hate and wariness.

“Once a Homeland, now a hellish place, the people long for death to take them away from there. Ye better pray ye don't end up there, for ye can't imagine the nightmares that will await ye.”

Gyrus's eyes widen. How could his kingdom get this bad? What year was it? How long was he gone? Who was this mysterious man that took over the kingdom, and was Don okay? 

All these questions flooded through his mind and he felt himself unable to focus.

“So, Gyrus. Where art ye going?”

Gyrus thinks for a moment. He definitely can't return home until he's stronger and has more information on the man who has taken over his kingdom. He would also need more people to assist him, and more people to fight this so-called "Demon".

“Can I join you on your quest?” He asks, and Tori looks surprised before pondering it.

“I suppose two swords are better than one... Ye better stay with me for the entire duration of this quest.”

“I swear on my honor.”

Tori nods in acknowledgement.

“I accept ye on the quest. Ye better keep thy promise on thy honor. We art headed to the town of Yvane on the outskirts of the Tugard Empire to gather information on the whereabouts of the great healer and to stock up on supplies,” Tori explains, looking at a list she pulled from her pocket.

“Oh, ye will need a weapon in case we encounter any creatures.”

“Agreed,” Gyrus nods. The wind feels cooler in the air and he tugs the blanket around him tightly. The blanket reacts and gets warmer. Definitely enchanted, Gyrus is grateful for this.

But who would give him such a blanket, and why? Enchantments and charms usually didn't last this long, so whoever made it must have been powerful.

Powerful witches or wizards were hard to come by these days, and although Gyrus possessed magic, he didn't know how to use it other than sniffing out a wizard's individual mark. Each and every spell, enchantment or charm that a wizard casts has its own individual feeling, a trace if you will.

Dark magic will feel more sour and bitter, where as light magic will feel comforting. What also factors in is the casters. For example, Gyrus's own magic reminds him and others of Strawberries. A faint scent would be left behind, or whoever got near the enchantment would think of the sweet fruit.

The magic on the blanket however, is trace guarded. What that meant was that Gyrus can not tell who made it, or even the general thoughts or smell that accompanied the spell. It is like there was a block on his ability to sense it.

He ponders what the reason would be as Tori flies past the setting winter sunset. Due to the heavy clouds, the already gray world becomes greyer as the sun sinks in the sky.

Gyrus gives up on clutching his enchanted blanket and ties it around his neck like a cloak. It wasn't one, but it would work for now, so he could hold on to Sylvia. He'd rather not fall 500+ feet. It was a long way down.

“We hadst best get there before the sun sets, for the darkness is not always so forgiving.” Tori warns, breaking Gyrus out of his thoughts. “The shadows lurk in the night and have free reign outside of villages and Outposts.”

“Shadows?”

“A fate worse than death. The shadows wilt consume ye until there wouldst be nothing left.”

“So they eat you?” Gyrus inquires.

“Nay. Ye become a shadow in such process.” Tori answers, her green eyes focused on something in the distance, and her mouth tightened.

Gyrus shivers at the thought of becoming such creature. He had no idea what they looked like, but if he has to warrant a guess, he'd say they came out of darkness and were probably susceptible to light spells.

Unfortunately, only royalty could do light spells, and since he didn't read the book in the castle library about light spells, he had no idea how to do it. But what he did know is that he had an affinity for light.

Just as Gyrus was about to say something else, Tori interrupted.

“Ye best hang on tight.”

“Hang on ti–” Gyrus starts to ask, but it turns into a scream as Tori directs Sylvia into a dive down at the ground.

The motion stops, and Gyrus realizes they've evened out. He opens his eyes, still hyperventilating, and looks at the ground which is a lot closer than previously. A small village lay on the ground, most likely Yvane. There are tiny lights all over the town, making the town look glowing and beautiful from the sky.

Laughter rings out, and Gyrus looks at Tori, confused. “Ye were so scared!” She exclaimed through her laughter and Sylvia joins in with a little whinny of her own.

“It was a valid concern, okay? Both of you stop laughing!” Gyrus defends, his cheeks hot in embarrassment. Tori laughs for a while longer, before

“We hath reached Yvane, the city of stars,” Tori announces, her breathing calming down.

Gyrus takes a second to look, _really look_ , at the town and realizes that all the tiny lights are people. As they approach the city, he realizes each and every person has a different color glow to them and the light of the glow doesn't come from the person, but the land itself.

Tori lands Sylvia on the ground and dismounts her. She begins to glow red as she touches the ground, and Sylvia glows a bright pink. Gyrus dismounts Sylvia and realizes he began to glow green at some point.

The air felt freeing, and Gyrus looks up at the stars in the sky. When had it gotten so dark? He wonders, frowning. He certainly did not want to see any of those so called 'shadows'.

“Where first?” He asks Tori.

“The nearest market is usually open at this time,” She replies. Gyrus walks beside her as she leads Sylvia to the market. The city is beautiful, the people glow like stars so there is no need for light in the night.

He remembers reading about why people glow, but can't remember why that is. Something about being connected to the ancient city of Aolice, and the magic flowing underneath to match with the individual auras of the people. He had read the thing a while ago, so most of it had slipped his mind.

Tori leads Sylvia into the market, and for nighttime, it seems fairly busy. She leads them to a weapon stall. Adults in cloaks sell gear, weapons, and colorful foods.

Food, now that was an idea. When was the last time he ate?

“Can we stop to get some food?” He asks, and Sylvia whinnies in agreement. He give a smile to Sylvia who seems to agree.

“Yes, after we acquire your gear,” Tori says, her eyes on a weapon stall. She examines a few swords, and looks at Gyrus. “How tall are you?” She asks.

“Oh, uh… I don't think I'd be much good with a sword,” Gyrus says, and it's the truth. He had learned a lot of magic growing up, so he didn't know the first thing about swords. “How about a staff?”

Tori sighs.

“Fine, ye can hath a stave,” She looks through the assortment and pulls out a staff that's wood straight on the bottom, that moves up into a swirl on the top.

“Twenty silvers,” The cashier says, eyeing the staff.

“Twenty silvers? But my own sword was less than that!” Tori gasps. The shopkeeper keeps a stern look on her face.

“If you want it, it'll be twenty silvers,” The woman says sternly.

“It is only worth thirteen,” Tori replies.

“Twenty,” The shopkeeper purses her lips. Gyrus feels a sense of dread in his stomach.

“Thirteen.”

“Twenty.”

“Fifteen.”

“Twenty.”

“I'm changing my number,” Tori says, and the shopkeeper shakes her head.

“I will only sell it to you at twenty silvers.”

“It is not worth twenty silvers!” Tori shouts, attracting the attention of the guards.

The guards of Yvane walk up behind Tori, and Gyrus realizes they were watching the whole exchange.

“Excuse me, but you're causing a public disturbance,” One guard says.

“A public disturbance? She's causing a public robbery!” Tori keeps getting more and more worked up, and Gyrus frowns at the trouble that seems to be impending.

“Tori…” He tries.

“You're all coming with us. Including the pegasus.” The guard says, as he grabs both of Tori's arms behind her back. The other guard takes hold of Gyrus's.

Gyrus frowns. Wherever they were going to be taken couldn't be good.

He just hoped they could get out of it.


	2. A Guard, A Prison, A Spell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tori and Gyrus figure out where they're being taken and formulate an escape plan.

“Where are they taking us?” Gyrus asks. Tori shrugs. “Where are you taking us?” Gyrus tries, his voice louder. Sylvia had been separated from them and handed off to a separate guard. Tori's armour and weapons had been taken, and they are both now in tan jumpsuits.

The guards don't answer, and seem to be ignoring Gyrus and Tori. Both adventurers' hands are cuffed and linked to a chain, pulled along by the guards.

“Why art the people so...?” Tori whispers.

“Frustrating?” Gyrus supplies.

“Yes, that.”

“Maybe it's just the local color.” Gyrus shrugs.

The guards finally stop at the entrance to a dungeon. A man emerges from the shadows, bald and with an X on his head. All Gyrus can think is,  _ wow, that is a bold fashion statement. _

“I hear you caused trouble with a local vendor.” The man starts.

“Well actually–” Tori tries to explain but is cut off when the man raises a hand in a stop signal. Her mouth moves, but no words seem to escape her lips. Gyrus furrows his brows, that couldn't be good. This man has some kind of silencing spell or temporary stopping spell or something dangerous. He'd have to be careful.

“You look familiar.” He points at Gyrus. Gyrus tilts his head in confusion.

“I do?” He asks, and sees Tori shrug along with his question.

“Yes, although I can't quite place my finger on it.” X-man appraises him with a glare. “it's no matter, I'll figure it out later. Guards, if you will?”

The guards hand the chain that both Tori and Gyrus are linked to to X man. Gyrus feels a headache building.

“You are both dismissed.” X-man tells the guards who nod and scurry away. He turns to Gyrus and Tori. “You two look like troublemakers. You know what happens with troublemakers in this empire?”

Both of them wisely stay quiet as they are lead into a dark torch-lit tunnel of the dungeon.

“They fight. They end up dead.”

Tori frowns and Gyrus can tell she's about to say something.

“Art thou implying that we wouldst commit discourse among ourselves?”

“Not at all, sweetheart.  _ What I'm implying _ , is that you will be individually chosen for matches against others. To the death. Except instead of some mean scary candidate or some murderer, you two will fight each other. For the entertainment of the princess of the Turgard Empire.”

“Why should we listen to ye?”

“If one of you doesn't kill the other, both of you will die.” X-man shrugs. “Honestly, I'm all for that plan.” He unhooks Tori and uses a knife to threaten her into a cell and closes the door.

Gyrus grits his teeth. Tori glares at X-man.

“I will not fight for thy entertainment. T'is against the knights' code.”

“Well then, I guess you'll both die.” X-man picks his teeth with his knife. He moves to the cell next to her and shoves Gyrus in. The walls in between the cells are solid rock, and without any weapons or anything they're stuck in there.

“Oh, and don't get any bright ideas to teleport out. Using magic anywhere in this dungeon saps all used power from you immediately and prevents you from restoring it while here.” X-man smirks. “Have fun.” He leers at Gyrus before disappearing down one of the torch-lit tunnels of the creepy dungeon.

Gyrus's cell is damp, moldy, and frankly smells like an unclean bathroom. It doesn't do anything for his headache. If anything, it makes it worse.

“Got anything we can use to escape?” Gyrus asks Tori. He hears her shuffle around a little in her cell.

“I may have something of interest to thou. My hands are cuffed, but I can take them out.” Tori replies.

“Why are they terrible at everything?” Gyrus murmurs to himself. “Alright, pull your gloves out of the cuffs. I need you to follow my instructions to the T.”

“There's no tea.” Tori sounds confused.

Gyrus sighs and looks up at the metal bars instead of the nasty brown rock floor. He doesn't even want to think about those stains.

“What I mean is follow them directly. I need you to draw a symbol on the wall that I can put my magic into. And if I'm right, it should reverse the magic sapping effects of the room.”

“What do I use to make this symbol?”

“Do you have any rocks, chalk, anything?” Gyrus asks, staring at the torch mounted on the wall outside his cell.

“Nay. But I do have my own blood.” Gyrus rubs his temples, his headache worsening.

“Why are you bleeding?”

“I scraped my elbow on the wall.”

The greenet sighs in exasperation. “It will have to do.”

“Tell me what to do.”

“First, draw a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect.” Gyrus pinches the bridge of his nose in the hope his headache will feel better, but it only seems to be turning into a migraine.

“Done.” She says after a minute.

“Good. Now add another circle inside that one.”

Again a moment of silence before she finishes.

“Okay, now add a square inside the circle.”

Tori does that.

“Draw an x that meets the corners of the square. And add two adjacent triangles in each open spot of the x.”

“Is that all?” She asks. Gyrus nods before remembering she can't see him.

“Yes, that's it. Now if you back away from the wall I'll see if it works.”

“I am far from the wall.” Tori replies. Gyrus closes his eyes and touches the wall. He concentrates until he can feel the symbol. When magic circles are involved, most of the magic you draw from is from the deepest reservoir in yourself, stuff that can't be stolen by others. He can't see the circle, but he can feel it light up. He hears Tori gasp.

Gyrus draws from his energy by imagining a well. He imagines a bucket in that well, and imagines himself drawing up the bucket with a rope, pulling the "water" up. Except, this water is green and glowing, referencing his magic.

He concentrates on the effects being reversed. There were magic users in this dungeon, and he wanted to give them the opportunity to cause trouble. The symbol would give them magic power to use.

He pushes his energy into the symbol, imagining the symbol turn green and glowing. He then imagines the symbol becoming clear. He can still feel it, but his magical energy seems to come back. He did it.

Gyrus pushes open the door with his energy, and pushes open Tori's.

“Ye did it!” She says, standing up and heading out of her cell.

“Now we find your sword.” He replies, closing his eyes and imagining the sword. He feels a tug on his chest leading him to a certain direction.

Tori follows him and they head through the prison to see all sorts of magic users causing trouble. A lady had taken someone's blood to control them like a puppet, using blood magic. When they walk past her, she nods at them.

“Thanks, Strawberry. I owe you one.”

Gyrus gives her a nervous smile, and they continue on towards Tori's sword. They dodge past fights and people alike, making their way to the weapons room. It's only a matter of time before the reach the end of the hallway and look over the corner to see the door to what they assume is the weapons room.

There is a man who looks quite like X man, but instead has an O on his head. Gyrus wonders if he was cloned or something. He closes his eyes and focuses and the man, knocking him out.

Doing so took a lot of energy out of him, reaching into a person's consciousness wasn't easy. Especially when your affinity was light, and reaching someone's conscious was more of a wind ability.

Tori and Gyrus run towards the door and push them open with both of their strengths. The doors open slowly, and Tori sees lots of confiscated valuables, items, and weapons.

Gyrus warily releases the door, and upon learning they won't close by themselves, turns to look at the stuff in the room as well. He finds a good quality staff, and a sword sheath which the staff fits in. He straps the sheath to his back and puts the staff into it.

The staff is a rich brown with a green gem in the middle of the swirl of the staff. The staff looks like it came from the magical wood of the Swordia Forest, but he couldn't be too sure.

There were a lot of knock offs, after all.

He turns to Tori when he's finished with his staff and holder to see she has her sword strapped to her hip and is admiring another sword. It has a circle off of the hilt, leading to a blade.

It's what Gyrus would call a "boss sword". She sheaths it into a second sheath on her back, and turns to look at Gyrus.

“Are ye ready to go?”

“Yeah, we can go.”

“Sylvia is located where?” Tori asks, and Gyrus has to think about it.

“I could do a tracking spell, but I'd need a piece of DNA…” He offers. Tori hands him a piece of hair from Sylvia's mane.

He grips on to the piece and thinks about Sylvia. The hair leads him to a hallway left of the last tunnel and up into the palace. He continues to think of her and the vision twists through the castle hallways, and up to the room with an image of Sylvia.

Interestingly enough, the pegasus seems to flicker in the vision between a Pegasus and some glitchy thing. Flickers in visions could mean a number of things, but the main ones were simple. She was either hiding her true self, cursed, too powerful with opposite affinity magic, or he was doing something wrong.

He'd bet on the last two.

Sylvia seemed smarter than a Pegasus at times, but he was sure that she was just extremely intelligent. She couldn't possibly be a human, she acted too much like a Pegasus. He was sure it was just something off about his magic or she had an opposing affinity.

“She's up in the palace, in one of the towers.”

“Which one?” Tori asks, raising an apple-red eyebrow. “Do ye know how to get there?”

“I think so, yeah. The problem is knowing the guard schedule.”

“How do we find it out?” Tori asks.

“I'm out of magic. Anymore and I'll start to randomly bleed.” Gyrus replies. “We could do it the old fashioned way and run around corridors hiding from the guards?”

“Fine.” Tori replies. “But we shall be stealth-like.”

Gyrus nods, this certainly wouldn't be easy.

He hopes he won't run into any guards they can't take on.

But what can he do?


	3. Absence and Strangers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tori disappears, and a stranger appears.

Gyrus and Tori peer around the corner and into the hallway of the palace. It's a sudden change from gross, yellow stone floors and bars into the carpets and riches of the palace. They had previously gone up a staircase from the dungeons that lead into the palace basement which was a sparsely furnished concrete floor with at least more than four guards.

Gods know dodging them was a nightmare.

The hallway looks fairly empty, a couple of tables and chairs decorate it, making it more than plain. Paintings litter the walls, filling them with beautiful colors of paint of nobles and animals. Gyrus wonders why they ever had a royal seal.

They creep into the hallway slowly, standing in the soft red carpet of it. It felt nice under their feet.

Great.

They've got to get to the tower to find Sylvia, but navigation really wasn't easy.

The twists and turns of the castle left almost no room for mistakes. Gyrus is nervous that he had misinterpreted the spell he had cast. He hopes Tori knows what she's doing.

Suddenly a strong arm pulls him back, covering his mouth. He makes a muffled noise, but can't seem to get anything out.

“Hey, stupid,” The voice calls from behind him. The arms let him go slowly. “You really don't want to scream right now, you're a trespasser.”

“Who are you and what do you want from me?” Gyrus asks, pursing his lips. He wasn't about to show his fear.

“Let's just say I'm Thunder for now,” The voice says, and Gyrus turns around to see a tall, robust woman with blonde hair in braids and heavy armour.

“Thunder?” Gyrus asks, “That's a really bad codename.”

“Yeah, well, you're not getting my real name.”

“Understandable. Do you know your way around this castle?”

The woman snorts. “Do I know my way around this castle? I know it like the back of my hand.”

“Can you help me find a tower with a Pegasus in it? She's pink with a darker pink mane…”

“I know exactly what you're talking about, kid. Follow me.”

That's when Gyrus notices Tori's absence. Where did she go?

“Wait–” Gyrus starts, but Thunder is already moving. He runs after her quietly.

He follows her through the hallway, but when they reach a door, she pulls him back suddenly.

“Wait,” She whispers, pulling him back with a hand over his mouth. This seems to happen a lot today.

They look into the door to the next hallway.

The sight of the hallway yields many things. Most importantly, the queen and the crownsguard. 

The Queen, Lady One had been married to the previous ruler of the land when he had suddenly fell ill. Some say he hadn't just fell ill and that she had poisoned him. All who said so, disappeared in the dead of the night, their houses empty by morning.

So to the remaining people, One was a benevolent ruler. Her crownsguard were named Two and Three, both not the wisest, but good at fighting.

Two used her fists and some sort of enchanted magic to punch her enemies out of anything.

Three did the same, but where Two was quicker, his attacks were harder. He was a buff man with salt and pepper hair. He looked to be in his early fifties.

Two on the other hand was a younger woman in her early thirties with blonde hair and a heavily made up face.

“Don't move,” Thunder says, and Gyrus nods, feeling sweaty where her hand is covering his mouth. Gyrus stays silent, and they cover themselves by hiding behind a suit of armour placed decoratively on the wall.

“The demon king could make a worthy ally…” Queen One replies to something they've missed.

“I quite agree,” Two replies. “There is a benefit to having someone as powerful as him on our side.”

“With his powers as a bonus to us, we can have a regime so powerful that we can find and assemble the legendary weapons of the realm and find the map pieces with them,” Three adds.

Gyrus wonders if they've gone crazy. The map pieces and legendary weapons had always been a myth, one that was ridiculous and old as time. It spoke of two weapons, a bow and a sword, that were called the "keys" to the universe. They could unlock realms to dimensions, worlds to time periods, but only when together.

The map pieces were another deal.

No one knew how many map pieces there were, but they were scattered throughout the land in the hands of many. Some were hidden, while others were owned and traded. Many forgeries were out on the market as well, most people buying them for souvenirs or collectibles. 

The map was supposed to lead to an ancient treasure, but no one knew what this treasure held.

Most people thought it a myth, and it was a running joke among magic users.

If Gyrus has learned anything, it's that the Queen and her crownsguard are mad. Map pie ea and weapons weren't actually real. That was a stupid idea.

“Don't be silly, the map pieces are all but a myth. But with my Boss Sword however…” She trails off, flicking her long black hair back. “Let's just say that those weapons won't be in someone else's hands any longer.”

She laughs, with the other two following her down the hallway, turning right at a door and opening it before stepping inside.

They wait a moment before Thunder releases him back into the hallway. They step out from behind the suit of armour.

Gyrus has no words. Thunder seems to be trying to hold in a laugh. Map pieces? Legendary weapons?

Yeah, no.

Life was definitely not a fairy tale.

Thunder leads him down the hallway and stops at a Tower.

“Your pink Pegasus should be up here,” She says gruffly, gesturing to the stairs.

“Thank you for helping me find her,” Gyrus nods. “I still have to find my companion before I go, who knows what she's up to. More importantly, I don't want those creeps finding her.”

“You and me both, kid. I'll tell you what,” Thunder's grey-blue eyes meet his own. “You take care of the horse, I'll find her. We'll meet outside of the castle, the giant star made of hedges in Castle grounds?”

“Why are you helping me?” Gyrus blinks, still confused.

“Do I need a reason to help?” She snorts, and Gyrus knows she's hiding something other than her name. Unfortunately, he doesn't have time to argue.

“Fine. Giant star, got it.”

With that, Gyrus dashes up the stairs as fast as his feet will carry him. He's exhausted and he feels weak, but hopefully they will all be together and go off, maybe with the added addition of Thunder.

...Not that Sylvia could carry her.

He reaches the top of the stairs to see Sylvia whinny and struggle against her chains. She is chained to the floor by a chain attached to a collar. 

Gyrus wonders how he's going to break that.

He's empty of magic. Damn it.

He looks around the room for something to break the chains with. There was practically nothing in the tower, except for a bookshelf with few books on farming. Nothing in the room could be used to break the chains.

Footsteps echo in the hallway, and Gyrus cringes.

There's nowhere to hide.

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been forever since I've posted aaaaaa  
> Thank you guys for reading this, it's been awhile but I love you all for keeping up with this story :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the discord for encouraging this and supporting me! You guys are the best!


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